The O.C. ended as it always was: silly drama told with good writing and peppered with hints of brilliance. Like most fans, I have not been tuning in for the fourth season. After Marissa died I lost interest. That might have been a mistake but I’m not the only one. This week’s Newsweek asks if a hit show has ever fizzled so quickly. It also offers a funny pop (culture) O.C. quiz – on which I did very well. After missing most of this final season I did catch the final two episodes and I was surprised by how strong it finished and how affected I am.
There are too many plot lines to summarize. In brief, the end to the season saw an earthquake hit Newport risking the lives of everyone, especially Ryan. The final episode then jumped ahead six months to show the birth of Kirsten’s baby girl, the parting of Seth and Summer, the reunion of Ryan and Taylor (who have been dating – odd) and the rebirth of Julie, aka Poopernickel to me, always. As the episode concludes it shows 4 or 5 years into the future where Julie has earned a college degree instead of depending on rich men to keep her afloat and Seth and Summer get married.
It was sweet. And it was surprisingly sad. The Cohen’s looked for a new home after earthquake damage rendered their mansion unlivable. And they end up buying their first home where Seth was born. It was cheesy and campy how they got their old house back – which included some irritating gay stereotypes played up by the old house’s current owners – but it still managed to be moving.
I really have never been big on teeny melodramas but there was something special about the O.C. It was emotionally manipulative, yes, but it was also weirdly cognitive. In the next to last episode Seth gives blood to save Ryan from his earthquake injuries. After Ryan jokes that he’s craving comics and indie rock Seth makes a curious quip. He comments that if they could turn this into a body swap comedy they could squeeze two more years out of it. It fits perfectly into the dialogue but is a very clever self-reference.
On the final episode Summer comments on The Valley entering its fifth season. (The O.C. was cut off in the middle of its fourth.) She rolls her eyes and complains, “Those teen drama’s go on forever.” Again, a more obvious self reference. The O.C. was always full of these. I really think it was the most Brechtian thing on television. The winks to the audience that commented on the show while avoiding direct addresses or breaking the fourth wall are hard to pull off but the O.C. did it well. It was ridiculous often – how cliché is a natural disaster? – but it was always self aware to the point of simultaneous mockery. I loved it.
It always held a special place for me. I began watching the O.C. my first semester of grad school. After a few years of corporate, “professional” mental monotony I found the rigors of my program quite challenging. Often I would spend all day in the library leaving my eyes crossed and my brain swollen. A classmate suggested the O.C. as an enjoyable distraction. I watched it once and I was hooked.
Some of the drama on the show mirrored conflict in my own life in a far less painful, cheeky way. And I actually developed feelings for the characters. The last moments of the series featured obligatory flashbacks and I was legitimately saddened in spite of my best attempts to stave off emotional investment. I used to miss the fun I had in college. Now I’m coming to the realization that other chapters have closed and I miss things about my immediate post-college life. I find myself pathetically nostalgic so, once again, the O.C.’s timing is perfect.
I’m going to miss the series. Luckily in the age of DVDs I can re-submerge myself in fictional farce. Still I wish Sandy Superdad Cohen were here to give me some choice words of wisdom to aid me in my grieving. But, in the real world I have no such mentor. The best I can do is look to the future and anticipate further sadness at the end of the Sopranos.
Californiaaaaa, there you go.
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